


Show Me How

by forlovedones



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Compliant, Demons, Gen, Post-Season/Series 09, Season/Series 09, Season/Series 10, Trying not to be cheesy but it's gonna be a bit cheesy, Yeah that's right the band, imagine dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 15:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15222383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forlovedones/pseuds/forlovedones
Summary: Sam hit the eject button and the music stopped."Hey!"Sam pulled out Dean's warn Zepplin tape and popped in The Atrocity — a tape deck aux adapter. Then he proceeded to plug his fancy phone into Baby like it wasn't even a little blasphemous. "Dude!""Listen to this song." Sam messed with his touch screen, queuing it up. Some young crooner started up.[When the days are cold-]Dean thunked his head back. "Come on man, not more pop rock.""Just listen."(Written because I don't have the time or skills to make music videos — featuring Demon Dean and Death!  Because why Death died was never properly explained, I think.)





	Show Me How

**April 27th 2014**  
**I-80 East, Iowa**

Sam sat passenger with his expensive earbud headphones in while Dean practiced the finer art of steering-wheel-percussing to _Whole Lotta Love_. They'd already run out of things to talk about three hours ago, but it was a conversation lull that was comfortably familiar to both Winchester boys; being stuck in his Baby for day-long road trips was practically their default setting.

"Dean..." Sam sat up straighter, pulling out the earbuds. Then he started rooting around the glove box.

 _Ah ah ah, yeeah,_ Plant wailed.

Sam hit the eject button and the music stopped.

"Hey!"

Sam pulled out Dean's warn Zepplin tape and popped in The Atrocity — a tape deck aux adapter. Then he proceeded to plug his fancy phone into Baby like it wasn't even a little blasphemous. "Dude!"

"Listen to this song." Sam messed with his touch screen, queuing it up. Some young crooner started up.

_When the days are cold-_

Dean thunked his head back. "Come on man, not more pop rock."

"Just listen."

Dean huffed, a bit louder than necessary.

 _-d the saints we see_  
_Are all made of gold_

Dean tried again. "Look man I know you're tired of my music-"

"That's not-"

"- but would you just give up already? I'm never going to fall for your emo, coffee shop, knock off-"

"Dean just-"

"-wouldn't know real Blues if it shit on their auto-tuned-"

"Dean! Just shut up and listen already!"

 _I wanna shelter you_  
_But with the beast inside_  
_There's no where we can hide_

Sam had his 'it's a clue' face on: a mix of excitement and speculation. "Listen to the words."

 _When you feel my heat_  
_Look into my eyes_  
_It's where my demons hide_

"See? Listen!"

 _Don't get too close, it's dark inside_  
_It's where my demons hide_  
_It's where my-_

"Dark eyes, Dean!"

Dean scoffed, "So?"

"So?" Sam said incredulously, as if Dean was acting dumb on purpose. "Doesn't that sound like possession to you?"

"So you, what... think this band-"

"Imagine Dragons."

"-has been possessed? And the demons decided to sing about it or something?"

"I dunno, maybe—here listen to this part."

 _-mess you made_  
_Don’t want to let you down_  
_But I am hell bound_  
_Though this is all for you_  
_Don’t want to hide the truth_  
_No matter what we breed_  
_We still are made of greed_  
_This is my-_

Sam looked at Dean hard, as if willing him to see what he saw. "Doesn't that sound like a demon deal to you? Like they made a deal for someone?"

Dean looked subdued. He didn't reply.

"The whole greed part too—it sounds just like someone who made a deal to save a loved one, doesn't it?"

_It's where my demons hide_

"And there was this part at the beginning you missed, about the ones we hail being the worst of all... that screams angels to me."

_It's dark inside_

"I think maybe one of them made a deal somehow or they're ex-hunters-"

Dean scoffed at that, eyes darting away.

"-or maybe a prophet or something, I dunno. It's pretty suspicious though right?"

 _Your eyes, they shine so bright_  
_I want to save their light_  
_I can't escape this now_  
_Unless you-_

Dean pushed the eject button, and the fake tape popped out.

"Hey!" Sam objected.

"I dunno man, maybe. Let's just figure out this thing in Chicago okay? Save some civvies, get a deep dish." He was already putting in a new tape, this time some Black Sabbath.

Sam looked confused and a little miffed. "Yeah... okay." He put his headphones back on.

  
\---

  
**Summer 2014**  
**Some bar, Somewhere**

Dean downed another whiskey, and signaled for more. Yet another benefit to his newest transformation: no alcohol limit. The bartender knew something was wrong, seeing as Dean should have succumbed to alcohol poisoning by now, so he was wary when he came over to refill the glass.

Crowley was prattling something in his ear, but Dean wasn't listening. He didn't listen to anything anymore, really. Case in point: the TV was looping news about some freak weather in the area and he felt zero of his old desire for martyrdom.

Actually, come to think of it...

"Is that me?"

Crowley cut off mid-sentence. "What? Is what you?"

Dean gestured to the TV, still running lightning footage.

Crowley pulled a prissy face. "Haven't you been listening? Yes, that's you — _us._ That's why we need to push on, your brother-"

 _When the days are cold_  
_And the cards all fold_

Dean turned. Some young brunette was wailing at the karaoke bar. Why would they even have this song?

 _When your dreams all fail_  
_And the ones we hail_  
_Are the worst of all_  
_And the blood’s run stale_

Dean downed another whiskey, and was going to signal again but saw the bartender had left the bottle this time. Smart man; good preservation instincts.

 _I want to hide the truth_  
_I want to shelter you_

The girl was pretty enough, but Dean felt no interest. He kind of wanted to mess her up a bit, actually. Maybe he was a bit drunk after all.

 _But with the beast inside_  
_There’s nowhere we can hide_

What the hell did she know about demons anyway? The worst she’d probably ever done was cheat on her boyfriend.

Dean felt no love for Sam anymore, no concern, yet somehow he still wanted to bar crawl with him… not this prissy Patty O’Brien wannabe. Looks like demons could have attachments too. Who knew.

But _his_ preservation instincts made that call easy — if he went back to Sam it would only end with one of them dead or both of them human, and he wasn't changing back. Ever.

 _No matter what we breed_  
_We still are made of greed_  
_This is my-_

Dean turned and casually threw his empty glass towards the small stage. It shattered on the wall behind the brunette, narrowly missing her face. Her scream echoed a bit over the mic.

There were yells of outrage and quite a few bigger guys coming to try and teach him a lesson. He smiled, eager for a bit of blood.

Time to burn some bridges and skip town. Raise a little hell.

He turned once more to the bartender, before the rabble could get through all the tables to him, and placed a few twenties down. He picked up the whiskey bottle and tipped it toward the bartender in solute.  "Thanks," he said, and grinned as he let his eyes flash black once in the bartender's direction before turning and burying a super-powered fist in some chubby's face.

  
\---

  
**May 20th, 2015**  
**Superior, Nebraska**

"Please, do me the honor," Death said, and he handed his scythe to Dean Winchester.

The honor. Death took a moment to sort his mind. The words were meant as an offering... a final encouragement to a man who only had one good choice left. Yet as the words came out Death was surprised to feel that he might mean them.

But that couldn't be. These pests were, at best, mildly entertaining. Perhaps the honor Death felt didn't have anything to do with the Winchesters, but instead was for the Old Dark Power seeping into Dean's existence. After all, Death may be destined to reap God someday, but he was fairly certain the Darkness would outlast them all.

Death sensed Dean's mind shift. What was he thinking? _Shelter you? Beast inside?_ His feeble cognitive abilities picked a terrible time to get a song stuck in his head. How quaint.

 _They say it's what you make_  
_I say it's up to fate_  
_It's woven in my soul_  
_I need to let you go_

And now Dean Winchester was stealing precious moments of Death's existence, again. Just standing there, staring at pictures of a family that was somehow both timeless and practically nonexistent, thinking of Cain and Sam and Abel and fate.

They both needed to focus.

"It's for family you must proceed, Dean."

 _Your eyes, they shine so bright_  
_I want to save their light_

Sam Winchester closed his eyes.

"To be what you are, to become what you've become is a stain on their memory."

_I can't escape this now_

"Do it. Or I will."

_Unless you show me how_

And then Death felt his own scythe bury into his being, and he was at once both shocked and indignant... yet also—maybe—a bit happy. Because they were both freed from fate now.

\---

 **Epilogue**  
**Gravel Parking Lot**

Dean got out the traction boards and the trench shovel and went to the stuck wheel. His Baby was not meant for off-roading, dammit.

"You know I'm gonna ask," Sam said.

Dean knelt and swore as he got even more mud on his jeans. "What?"

"What changed your mind?"

Dean sighed. "You know why man."

"No I mean it, I really wanna know. I mean I was kinda on board too; I was going to let you. So why didn't you?"

It was crazy how easily they could talk about murder and suicide. Their lives were messed up.

Dean grunted with the effort of digging out around the wheel at such an awkward angle. He considered not answering at all. It had been a long day... a long life. "I dunno Sam. Your stupid face. I guess I just couldn't."

They were both silent as Dean finished digging around the pot hole, put down the traction boards and—with Sam pushing from behind—got his Baby out of the hole. Sam re-packed the boards, dusted off, then got in.

"I had that stupid song of yours stuck in my head though," Dean blurted suddenly.

Sam blinked, surprised. "What song?"

"Demon Dragons or whatever."

Sam laughed. "You mean _Demons_ by Imagine Dragons? You remember that?"

Dean shrugged. "They play it everywhere man, it's unavoidable." He shifted. "That bit about-"

Sam cut him off. "I was right about that song by the way."

"What?"

"The main singer, Dan Reynolds—he made a demon deal. I emailed them just in case after I showed you that song, and he got back to me last summer while you were- um- gone.”

Dean couldn't help but laugh. "No way."

"Yeah. Turns out one of their Producers was possessed, making deals with desperate musicians to make them stars. But Dan took it for his sister. She was sick or something."

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah. Ruby's knife."

"Sweet."

They sat for a bit, then Sam asked, "What were you saying before?"

"Never mind man, it doesn't matter. The whole stupid song hits too close to home."

"You want me to play it?"

Dean snorted. "You crazy?" And he put the car back in drive and headed for pavement.

**Author's Note:**

> Written because I don't have the time or skills to make music videos, but love how Demons matches Supernatural so perfectly... because our favorite pair of brothers are always showing each other 'how.' :)


End file.
